Novel about Vietnam veteran wins $5,000 William Colby prize

NEW YORK – A novel about a Marine’s time in Vietnam and his struggles back home has won a $5,000 prize. Mark Treanor’s “A Quiet Cadence” is this year’s recipient of the William E. Colby Award for best debut book, fiction or nonfiction, military history, foreign policy or intelligence operations.

Treanor is a Vietnam veteran who has a long career in public service, including as chairman to the advisory committee to the Import-Export Bank and and vice chairman of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy. He is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum.

Previous winners of the Colby award, named for the late CIA director, include James Bradley’s “Flags of Our Fathers,” Karl Marlantes’ “Matterhorn” and Adam Higginbotham’s “Midnight in Chornobyl.”

“I’m thrilled to have been chosen as the recipient of the 2021 Colby Award; it is a great honour to join the company of the distinguished writers who have been prior recipients,” Treanor said in a statement. “And, it is truly gratifying that the judges chose a novel which explores the realities of combat and its postwar impact on our troops.”